Byorderofthecourt, who won impressively at Mollington in April and was then sold for £120,000, has been rated the leading British four-year-old point-to-pointer...
He has been given a rating of 101 by Martin Harris, whose full list of assessments will be published in the the 2022/23 edition of The Yearbook, which is set to go on sale in time for the new season. Priced at £24.99 plus p&p. It also includes a review of the season and a compilation of Nick Wilson's On The Clock as published in Go Pointing throughout last season.
Trained and ridden by Dale Peters for a partnership involving the trainer, his father Mick and Toby Hunt, Byorderofthecourt (pictured above) won a seven-runner maiden on his sole appearance to date, and was then offered for sale at Tattersalls Cheltenham April Sale where he was knocked down to bloodstock agent Tom Malone on behalf of champion trainer Paul Nicholls.
Dale Peters, with his father Mick, after they had sold Byorderofthecourt for £120k **photo Carl Evans
The Alan Hill-trained Purple Empora, who finished second to Byorderofthecourt, is joint-second on Harris’s list of four-year-olds with a rating of 99. Also on that mark is Hoe Joly Smoke, who won on his debut at Charm Park and was subsequently sold out of Tom Ellis’s yard to join Dan Skelton, and the Fran Poste-trained Salt Rock, who scored at Charlton Horethorne on his first start. He was then put through the ring at Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale and was sold for £205,000 to Kim Bailey.
Mount Bonete, who was trained by Poste to finish second to Hoe Joly Smoke, is next on the list with a rating of 97. He is now in training with Chris Gordon after being sold for £60,000.
Harris’s top-rated five-year-old is Park This One, who scored for Neil McLean’s stable at Dunsmore in November when still a four-year-old. Given a rating of 103, he has since joined Jamie Snowden’s yard for a career under Rules.
Three horses share second spot in the list of five-year-olds with a rating of 101. They are Choosethenews, who made a winning debut at Garthorpe for Jack Teal’s stable, His Own Star, who went through the gears when running up three wins for Stuart Sampson’s yard, and Walkin Out, whose treble of victories for trainer Leslie Jefford included the final of the Jockey Club Fillies’ & Mares’ Novice Championship at Woodford.
Walkin Out (Martin McIntyre), winner of The Jockey Club Novice Champion Final Race at Woodford **photo Carl Evans